A Chinese naval ship. The Chinese survey ship, Zhu Kezhen, is returning to port after a technical problem. Photo: AFP

A Chinese ship mapping the ocean floor ahead of an intensive underwater search for missing Flight MH370 was returning to port yesterday due to a technical problem.

The massive Indian Ocean search for the Malaysia Airlines plane, which disappeared on March 8 carrying 239 people, has so far failed to find any sign of the Boeing 777.

The Chinese survey ship, Zhu Kezhen, was conducting a bathymetric survey - or mapping of the ocean floor - to help experts determine how to carry out the next stage of the search on the previously unmapped ocean seabed.

"Zhu Kezhen suffered a defect to its multibeam echosounder and is coming into port to conduct the necessary repairs," Australia's Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said. "The journey is expected to take a couple of days."

Watch: What we know about Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

The search for MH370 has been continually frustrated and last week Australia ruled out an area considered a possible resting place of the plane after a mini-sub dived repeatedly to the seabed and found nothing.

Officials believe the plane diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing route and ended up in the Indian Ocean, but have little to go on besides satellite signalling messages sent between aircraft, satellite and ground station.

Experts are now reanalysing this satellite data to confirm a search area as well as mapping the sea floor in preparation for the commercially contracted deep-sea search, which is expected to begin in August and take up to 12 months.

JACC said an Australian contracted survey vessel would also be involved in conducting the bathymetric survey, and would arrive in the search area this month.

Australia is leading the hunt for MH370, which disappeared in its search and rescue area, in consultation with Malaysia and China, whose citizens accounted for nearly two-thirds of those onboard the flight.

Malaysia insists it is doing all it can in what is an unprecedented situation but the relatives of those on the plane have expressed anger and frustration at the lack of progress, nearly three months after the plane vanished.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Chinese ship forced out of map task

We can provide a Memorial For The Passengers & Families Of MH-370 By Preventing Fatal Crashes - The flight recorders should be data streamed to ground in real-time and used proactively for the passengers and their families protection. It can substantially decrease the cost of flying by reducing accidents and lowering insurance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- used in real-time Make the DFDR public and used in real-time to proactively prevent crashes. It would allow the world to know an aircraft’s position, velocity and heading every second. Always remember that the remote flight recorder, data streaming black box, can be used in the present autopsy mode of post-crash analysis but proactively, and more importantly, “it can also be used to prevent fatal crashes (see: the web site safelander)”. This will make air travel more economical, safer and its nations more secure. It is a madness driven by the fear of litigation that we don’t know where the MH370 is within days or hours. We owe the fixing of the safety system to all those who have died in needless crashes that could have been prevented by proactively using the digital flight recorder information in real-time.

sy.levine.5 Jun 1st 20147:26am

We can provide a Memorial For The Passengers & Families Of MH-370 By Preventing Fatal Crashes - The flight recorders should be data streamed to ground in real-time and used proactively for the passengers and their families protection.
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The US, due to the influence of the Airlines, Aircraft Manufacturers and Pilot Associations, won't fix the dark-age, restrict the data, killing system, because of fear of liability. They have successfully lobbied and conspired to keep the flight recorder data private. This fear has kept the safety critical Digital Flight Data Recorder, DFDR, data locked up in the aircraft instead of being streamed to the ground in real-time and used proactively to prevent crashes.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also has not called for or allowed the DFDR data to be used in real-time also out of the fear of liability to its members. The only hope lies with China in making the DFDR public and used in real-time to proactively prevent crashes. It would allow the world to know an aircraft’s position, velocity and heading every second. Always remember that the remote flight recorder, data streaming black box, can be used in the present autopsy mode of post-crash analysis but proactively, and more importantly, “it can also be used to prevent fatal crashes (see: the web site: safelander)”, making air travel safer & more economical.